Meeting Summary Planning Unit WRIA 56 Hangman (Latah) Creek Local Watershed Plan March 23, 2004 Chair: Walt Edelen, Spokane County Conservation District (SCCD) Present: Gary Ostheller, Fairfield Triangle Grange Bruce Carmack, Rock Creek Resident Reanette Boese, Spokane County Bill Rickard, City of Spokane Peter Grunte, Hangman Valley Resident Steve Bortfeld, Hangman Water District Doug Allen, Ecology Rick Noll, SCCD Jilla Harmon, SCCD Minutes: Walt asked for any corrections or comments to the March 9, 2004 meeting minutes that were distributed prior to today’s meeting. There were no additional changes and the minutes were approved as is. Open Discussion/Public Comment Bruce Carmack asked about the comments regarding the Fairfield’s water needs for the future in the March 9 meeting minutes. He asked if Rockford had any comments on their needs. There was some discussion by the Planning Unit. Walt explained that, in the past month, he and Rick have met with each of the area Town Councils and discussed their specific current and projected water use. The numbers showed them if they had a deficit or excess and they could act accordingly. The information was given to each Town Council and they were encouraged to review the numbers and/or apply for new additional water rights as soon as possible. Cheney and Spokane Councils have not yet been addressed. Walt and Rick will meet with Cheney Town Council March 23, and are working on re-scheduling the Spokane City Council meeting that has been postponed twice. There was some discussion by the Planning Unit about the population status figures for Spokane City and Spokane County that are listed in the Watershed Assessment Report. Final Watershed Plan Document Walt presented the status of the final document. All the comments have been addressed. The document will be available for review by the end of April. Watershed Issues/Recommendations There were some additional recommendations added to the list prior to going through each of the recommendations on the homework document. Recommendation (s) ADD-e) Actual Water Use/Allocation in the Basin c) Mitigation should be required for all new water rights, excluding domestic exempt wells. ADD-f) Potential Augmentation and Storage Strategies d) Encourage change of source for water rights from surface to ground water where feasible NOTE: may want to have some incentives to help involvement Review Homework Compile Implementation Strategies The Planning Unit began working through each recommendation beginning with the Water Quantity Issues and Recommendations. Water Quantity a) Projected Future Growth i) Some Municipal water systems may not have enough water to meet projected future growth. a) Future ground water rights should be subject to mitigation (eg. Flow augmentation, aquifer storage). Planning Unit could support with modifications – CHANGE a) Future municipal ground water rights should be subject to mitigation, (eg. Flow augmentation, aquifer storage), NOTE: Dependent on the instream flow outcome this may need some clarification b) Current water rights should be evaluated for availability for purchase or lease. Valid current water rights should be purchased or leased. Planning Unit could support with modifications – CHANGE b) Evaluate the potential to purchase or lease valid current water rights for municipal supply.
c) Apply for water rights through current process.
Planning Unit agreed to delete this recommendation – DELETE
c) was d - Establish municipal reserve water rights outside of instream flow ruling.
Planning Unit could support with modifications – CHANGE
Establish municipal reserves for water rights as part of the instream flow rule. These water rights must be in compliance with provisions of HB1338.
d) was e – Utilize reclamation, conservation and reuse strategies to minimize impacts.
Planning Unit could support with modifications – CHANGE
Encourage reclamation, conservation and reuse strategies to
increase water available for beneficial uses.
Open Discussion/Public Comment
Homework
Walt reminded the Planning Unit that the Issues and Recommendations spreadsheet that was sent out for homework assignment is due. The Planning Unit was encouraged to get the document back to Walt as soon as possible.
Walt is working on incorporating all the Issue and Recommendation comments and modifications into a matrix document. This will make it easier for the Planning Unit to see where there is issues and recommendations agreement and which ones need more work for the final Implementation Strategies document.
Next Meeting
A special half-day working session will be held on April 15 from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. to work on the Issues and Recommendations Implementation strategies document.
A regular meeting will be held on April 20, from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Both meetings will be held at the SCCD offices.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:06 p.m.